The artificial creation of “silence” through music with mp3-players to escape the noise of big cities is sometimes also an escape from oneself. Less and less we are used to experiencing silence and to cope with it. Therefore it is also a question of being present, to feel the “here” and “now”. For my performance “J’ai un cadeau pour vous” (French for: I have a gift for you) at the CENTQUATRE in Paris I picked up upon these thoughts. Without saying a single word, I distributed texts and earplugs to the visitors and offered them one minute of silence. Beside the sound insulation the earplugs have another effect too: when you use it, you can hear your own breathing much louder, which refers us to ourselves. During this minute of silence, a stress field of proximity and distance, collective and individual experience occurs.